Austria tells militant fighters looking to return: You're on your own

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria said on Wednesday it would not help repatriate any citizens who fought for Islamic State and other militant groups, as countries across the West wrestle with how to deal with returning militants.

Hundreds of people are believed to have left Europe to fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. With the Islamist militant group down to its last shred of territory, several have asked to come home.

The cabinet has sent a bill to parliament on consular assistance that makes clear that it can be denied to citizens if there is a threat to public order, the government said in a statement.

“There will in future be no assistance for people who join a terrorist organization,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, a conservative governing in coalition with the far-right Freedom Party, told journalists.